The present invention relates to a foldable tent and more particularly to an improved hub assembly for foldable tents.
For novice campers, foldable tents are a popular alternative to conventional assemble-to-use tents. Foldable tents, which are commonly referred to as “instant tents,” “one-touch tents” or “pop-up tents,” are sold preassembled, making opening and closing of the tent easy and less time consuming. These tents are easily foldable because of the foldable and retractable nature of the poles, and the poles being pivotable within a central hub assembly.
Hub assemblies of foldable tents are known in the art and continue to develop and evolve. Recently, hub assemblies capable of functioning without additional supporting braces have been developed (i.e., a hub assembly with only a base and poles pivotally attached thereto) as described in the parent applications of the present application. However, several shortcomings were discovered through manufacture and use of those hub assemblies.
Hub assemblies are generally circular in shape and the slots formed on the hub assembly to house each pole are generally arranged radially such that each slot is spaced apart circumferentially. Because the hub assemblies are manufactured to a compact size, the space provided between adjacent slots is minimal. Therefore, when the hub assembly is manufactured with many poles (e.g., more than four poles), the hub assembly must be expanded radially outward to accommodate for additional slots, thus increasing manufacturing cost.
Hub assemblies in the prior art are also manufactured with fasteners for forming a pivoting axis for each pole. The fasteners, often metal screws, could be exposed through gaps formed between the poles and corresponding side walls, as well as portions of the screw which may protrude from either outer side of the side walls. Therefore, during factory assembly and/or opening and folding the tent by the user, the tent fabric could become damaged from contact with the metal screws. In addition, substantial manual labor is required to assemble each pole with the fasteners.
A need exists, therefore, for a hub assembly capable of housing many poles without significantly increasing the overall volume of the hub assembly. A need also exists for a hub assembly manufactured without hardware which could cause potential damage to other components of the tent. A further need exists for a hub assembly capable of easy assembly during the manufacturing process.